The officers who stood by and let Rodney King be beaten half to death are not indicted. The police chief whose leadership inspires violent racism apparently answers to no one. The police officers who so obviously smashed Don Jackson through a store window not only have the charges dismissed against them but also receive "stress related" pensions for the rest of their lives. My God, what is going on here?! Not exactly Chamber of Commerce stuff. How could we blame the rest of the country if they actually were to answer the calls to boycott L.A.?

I'm almost ashamed to be white; but of course, that, too, would be racist. There's a larger issue here.

From Watergate to Iran-Contra, from John Sununu's "frequent flier" miles, at the expense of taxpayers, to the scores of executives with golden parachutes safely bailing out of the savings-and-loans they mismanaged, at the expense of taxpayers and of countless citizens who lost their life savings, there has evolved one species of justice for the powerful and another for the rest of us.

Hammurabi, the first recorded lawgiver, must be turning in his grave. The whole purpose of the law, in the words of his code, was "that the strong might not oppress the weak."

Why did the Founding Fathers and Mothers invent America anyway?